Paula K. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2455
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Paula K., who was born in K?odawa, Poland in 1924. She recalls German invasion in 1939; German soldiers severely beating, then killing the rabbi and others; expulsion from their home; non-Jews providing food for her family; twenty months in a forced labor camp; being beaten by a guard; crocheting for civilian workers to earn extra food; a Polish woman who often assisted her; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; hiding injuries to avoid selection; an SS woman who gave her extra food; transfer to Czechoslovakia in late 1944; sabotaging their work in an airplane factory; and liberation by Soviet troops. Mrs. K. describes returning to K?odawa; a warm reception from her neighbors; marriage; fleeing to Berlin to escape antisemitic attacks; her daughters' births; and emigration to the United States in 1951. She discusses her reluctance to speak of her experience until a gathering of Holocaust survivors in Israel in 1981, and her subsequent efforts to educate children about the Holocaust as a memorial to her parents.

Extent and Medium

2 videocassettes

Conditions Governing Access

This testimony is open with permission.

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

People

Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.